System, device, and methods for providing dietary and health information

ABSTRACT

A method for providing dietary health and progress information to a user may include the steps of: receiving input from a user through a client device, in which the input includes a biometric data goal; receiving baseline health information of the user via a health monitoring device, the baseline health information including a first biometric data, the first biometric data communicated from the health monitoring device to the client device; receiving user nutrition and exercise data via the client device; and providing a first modification to the user via the client device, in which the first modification includes a health recommendation to achieve the biometric data goal of the user.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of the filing dateof U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/828,197, filed on Apr. 02, 2017,entitled “SYSTEM, DEVICE, AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING DIETARY AND HEALTHINFORMATION”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.This application also claims priority to and the benefit of the filingdate of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/939,977, filed on Nov. 25,2019, entitled “SYSTEM, DEVICE, AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING DIETARY ANDHEALTH INFORMATION”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This patent specification relates to the field of healthy eating andproviding health information to a user. More specifically, this patentspecification relates to systems, devices, and methods for providingfreshly ground and mixed, raw form spices and other edible nutritionalitems as well as systems for providing dietary health information to auser.

BACKGROUND

While it is known that spices and other edible nutritional items areable to provide positive health benefits, most individuals find itdifficult to prepare and utilize one or more freshly ground and mixed,raw form spices and other edible nutritional items. For this reason,they resort to using pre-ground or prepared edible nutritional itemswhich are of limited freshness and flavor. Furthermore, it can bedifficult to remember and consistently repeat mixtures of ediblenutritional items.

Therefore, a need exists for novel systems, devices, and methods forproviding freshly ground and mixed spices as well as dietary health andinformation to a user. A further need exists for novel systems, devices,and methods for providing dietary health and information which may beutilized by a user to naturally cure health problem(s). Still a furtherneed exists for novel systems, devices, and methods for providingdietary health and information which may be utilized by a user toachieve healthier eating habits and exercise to lose weight and maintaingood cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, and sugar levels. Anotherneed exists for novel systems, devices, and methods for providingdietary health and information to a user which are able to providefreshly ground and mixed, raw form spices and other edible nutritionalitems having the freshest and most robust flavors. Yet a further needexists for novel systems, devices, and methods for providing dietaryhealth and information to a user which are able to store variousmixtures of edible nutritional items and to consistently reproduce andprovide the various mixtures of edible nutritional items to users.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A novel system, device, and methods for providing healthy edible itemssuch as spices and dietary health and information which may be utilizedby a user to naturally cure health problem(s) are provided which may beutilized by a user to achieve healthier eating habits and exercise tolose weight and maintain good cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, andsugar levels.

In some embodiments, a method for providing dietary health and progressinformation to a user may include the steps of: receiving user data viaa client device; receiving baseline health information of user via aclient device and a health monitoring device; receiving user nutritionand exercise data via a client device and a dietary metering device;calculating the health progress of the user; providing health progressof the user via a client device; and providing modifications to user,via a client device, the modifications used to meet health goals of theuser.

In further embodiments, a method for providing dietary health andprogress information to a user may include the steps of: receiving inputfrom a user through a client device, in which the input includes abiometric data goal; receiving baseline health information of the uservia a health monitoring device, the baseline health informationincluding a first biometric data, the first biometric data communicatedfrom the health monitoring device to the client device; receiving usernutrition and exercise data via the client device; and providing a firstmodification to the user via the client device, in which the firstmodification includes a health recommendation to achieve the biometricdata goal of the user.

In some embodiments, a system for providing dietary and healthinformation may include: one or more dietary metering devices which maybe configured to dispense metered amounts of edible nutritional items;one or more health monitoring devices which may be configured to providehealth biometric information of a user; and one or more client deviceswhich may be in communication with the dietary metering devices and/orhealth monitoring devices, the client device configured to providehealth progress and modifications to a user which may be used to meethealth goal of the user.

In further embodiments, a system for providing dietary and healthinformation may include: a client device having a display screen and aninput interface for receiving input from a user; and a computingplatform having a processor, a memory in communication with theprocessor. A communication logic may be stored in the memory, executableby the processor and configured to receive input from the user, theinput including a biometric data goal, and configured to receivebaseline health information of the user via a health monitoring device,the baseline health information including a first biometric data, thefirst biometric data communicated from the health monitoring device tothe client device. An acquisition logic may be stored in the memory,executable by the processor and configured to receive user nutrition andexercise data via the client device. An analytics logic may be stored inthe memory, executable by the processor and configured to generate afirst modification, in which the first modification includes a healthrecommendation to achieve the biometric data goal of the user, and inwhich the first modification is provided to the user via thecommunication logic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an exampleand are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, inwhich like references may indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative example of some of the components andcomputer implemented methods which may be found in a system forproviding dietary and health information according to variousembodiments described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing an example of a server whichmay be used by the system as described in various embodiments herein.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a client devicewhich may be used by the system as described in various embodimentsherein.

FIG. 4 depicts a perspective view of an example of a dietary meteringdevice according to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of some of the internal componentsof an example of a dietary metering device according to variousembodiments described herein according to various embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an example of a dietary metering deviceaccording to various embodiments described herein according to variousembodiments described herein.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of an example of a method for dispensingedible nutritional items from a dietary metering device according tovarious embodiments described herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method forproviding dietary health and information according to variousembodiments described herein.

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of some of the internal components ofanother example of a dietary metering device according to variousembodiments described herein according to various embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram of another example of a method fordispensing edible nutritional items from a dietary metering deviceaccording to various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram illustrating some applications of a systemfor providing dietary and health information which may function assoftware rules engines according to various embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example of acomputer-implemented method for generating one or more modificationsaccording to various embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of oneor more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singularforms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms aswell as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof.

Although the terms “first”, “second”, etc. are used herein to describevarious elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms.These terms are only used to distinguish one element from anotherelement. For example, the first element may be designated as the secondelement, and the second element may be likewise designated as the firstelement without departing from the scope of the invention.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by onehaving ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Itwill be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonlyused dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thepresent disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

DEFINITIONS

As used herein, the term “computer” refers to a machine, apparatus, ordevice that is capable of accepting and performing logic operations fromsoftware code. The term “application”, “software”, “software code”,“source code”, “script”, or “computer software” refers to any set ofinstructions operable to cause a computer to perform an operation.Software code may be operated on by a “rules engine” or processor. Thus,the methods and systems of the present invention may be performed by acomputer based on instructions received by computer software.

The term “electronic device” as used herein is a type of computercomprising circuitry and configured to generally perform functions suchas recording audio, photos, and videos; displaying or reproducing audio,photos, and videos; storing, retrieving, or manipulation of electronicdata; providing electrical communications and network connectivity; orany other similar function. Non-limiting examples of electronic devicesinclude: personal computers (PCs), workstations, servers, laptops,tablet PCs including the iPad, cell phones including iOS phones made byApple Inc., Android OS phones, Microsoft OS phones, Blackberry phones,digital music players, or any electronic device capable of runningcomputer software and displaying information to a user, memory cards,other memory storage devices, digital cameras, external battery packs,external charging devices, and the like. Certain types of electronicdevices which are portable and easily carried by a person from onelocation to another may sometimes be referred to as a “portableelectronic device” or “portable device”. Some non-limiting examples ofportable devices include: cell phones, smartphones, tablet computers,laptop computers, wearable computers such as Apple Watch, othersmartwatches, Fitbit, other wearable fitness trackers, Google Glasses,and the like.

The term “client device” as used herein is a type of computer orcomputing device comprising circuitry and configured to generallyperform functions such as recording audio, photos, and videos;displaying or reproducing audio, photos, and videos; storing,retrieving, or manipulation of electronic data; providing electricalcommunications and network connectivity; or any other similar function.Non-limiting examples of client devices include: personal computers(PCs), workstations, servers, laptops, tablet PCs including the iPad,cell phones including iOS phones made by Apple Inc., Android OS phones,Microsoft OS phones, Blackberry phones, Apple iPads, Anota digital pens,digital music players, or any electronic device capable of runningcomputer software and displaying information to a user, memory cards,other memory storage devices, digital cameras, external battery packs,external charging devices, and the like. Certain types of electronicdevices which are portable and easily carried by a person from onelocation to another may sometimes be referred to as a “portableelectronic device” or “portable device”. Some non-limiting examples ofportable devices include: cell phones, smartphones, tablet computers,laptop computers, tablets, digital pens, wearable computers such asApple Watch, other smartwatches, Fitbit, other wearable fitnesstrackers, Google Glasses, and the like.

The term “computer readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to the processor forexecution. A computer readable medium may take many forms, including butnot limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmissionmedia. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical, magneticdisks, and magneto-optical disks, such as the hard disk or the removablemedia drive. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as the mainmemory. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire andfiber optics, including the wires that make up the bus. Transmissionmedia may also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

As used herein the term “data network” or “network” shall mean aninfrastructure capable of connecting two or more computers such asclient devices either using wires or wirelessly allowing them totransmit and receive data. Non-limiting examples of data networks mayinclude the internet or wireless networks or (i.e. a “wireless network”)which may include Wifi and cellular networks. For example, a network mayinclude a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., theInternet), a mobile relay network, a metropolitan area network (MAN), anad hoc network, a telephone network (e.g., a Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN)), a cellular network, a Zigby network, or a voice-over-IP(VoIP) network.

As used herein, the term “database” shall generally mean a digitalcollection of data or information. The present invention uses novelmethods and processes to store, link, and modify information suchdigital images and videos and user profile information. For the purposesof the present disclosure, a database may be stored on a remote serverand accessed by a client device through the internet (i.e., the databaseis in the cloud) or alternatively in some embodiments the database maybe stored on the client device or remote computer itself (i.e., localstorage). A “data store” as used herein may contain or comprise adatabase (i.e. information and data from a database may be recorded intoa medium on a data store).

In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number oftechniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefitand each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in somecases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sakeof clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possiblecombination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion.Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with theunderstanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope ofthe invention and the claims.

A new system, device, and methods for providing dietary and healthinformation are discussed herein. In the following description, forpurposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Itwill be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without these specific details.

The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theinvention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specificembodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.

The present invention will now be described by example and throughreferencing the appended figures representing preferred and alternativeembodiments. As perhaps best shown by FIG. 1, an illustrative example ofsome of the physical components which may comprise a system providingdietary and health information (“the system”) 100 according to someembodiments is presented. The system 100 is configured to facilitate thetransfer of data and information between one or more health monitoringdevices 130, dietary metering devices 140, access points 103, clientdevices 400, and servers 300 over a data network 105. A data store 308accessible by the server 300 may contain one or more databases. Eachclient device 400 may send data to and receive data from the datanetwork 105 through a network connection 104 with an access point 103.

The data may comprise any information that one or more users 101 desireto input into the system 100 including information describing one ormore users 101, information describing the actions of one or more users101, information requested by one or more users 101, informationsupplied by one or more users 101, dietary information, food and otheredible nutrition information, health information, exercise information,health biometrics and test result information, and any other informationwhich a user 101 may desire to input or enter into the system 100.

In this example, the system 100 comprises at least one client device 400(but preferably more than two client devices 400) configured to beoperated by one or more users 101. Client devices 400 can be mobiledevices, such as laptops, tablet computers, personal digital assistants,smart phones, and the like, that are equipped with a wireless networkinterface capable of sending data to one or more servers 300 with accessto one or more data stores 308 over a network 105 such as a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN). Additionally, client devices 400 can be fixeddevices, such as desktops, workstations, and the like, that are equippedwith a wireless or wired network interface capable of sending data toone or more servers 300 with access to one or more data stores 308 overa wireless or wired local area network 105. The present invention may beimplemented on at least one client device 400 and/or server 300programmed to perform one or more of the steps described herein. In someembodiments, more than one client device 400 and/or server 300 may beused, with each being programmed to carry out one or more steps of amethod or process described herein.

The system 100 may also comprise one or more health monitoring devices130 which may be configured to be in wireless (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,RFID, etc.) and/or wired communication with a dietary metering device140, client device 400, and/or server 300. Generally, a healthmonitoring device 130 may comprise an electronic device that may be usedto provide health biometric data to the system 100, including testresult information, the biometric data describing one or more biometricparameters of a user's body 101.

In some embodiments, a health monitoring device 130 may comprise aglucose device 130A which may be an electronic patch that may bewearable by a user 101 having data connectivity functionality. The patchdevice 130A may be configured to provide health biometric informationdescribing a user's 101 blood glucose levels, serum cholesterol levels,blood pressure readings, and/or any other health biometric and testresult information of the user 101 which may be electronicallycommunicated from the patch device 130A to a client device 400 and/ordietary metering device 140 via a wired or wireless connection 104. Anexample glucose device 130A includes the FreeStyle Libre by AbbottDiabetes Care.

In further embodiments, a health monitoring device 130 may comprise ablood pressure cuff/machine device 130B having data connectivityfunctionality. The blood pressure cuff/machine device 130B may beconfigured to provide health biometric information describing a user's101 blood pressure and pulse which may be electronically communicatedfrom the blood pressure cuff/machine device 130B to a client device 400and/or dietary metering device 140 via a wired or wireless connection104. An example blood pressure cuff/machine device 130B includes theOmron Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor by Omron.

In further embodiments, a health monitoring device 130 may comprise aweight scale device 130C having data connectivity functionality. Theweight scale device 130C may be configured to provide health biometricinformation describing a user's 101 weight and optionally body fatpercentage which may be electronically communicated from the weightscale device 130C to a client device 400 and/or dietary metering device140 via a wired or wireless connection 104. An example weight scaledevice 130C includes the Garmin Index Smart Scale by Garmin.

In further embodiments, a health monitoring device 130 may comprise astandalone device 130D having data connectivity functionality. Astandalone device 130D a serum cholesterol level measuring machine, aglucose test strip reading machine, or any other device that may not bewearable for extended periods of time but which may be used toperiodically provide health biometric information of the user 101 thatmay be electronically communicated from the standalone device 130D to aclient device 400 and/or dietary metering device 140 via a wired orwireless connection 104. An example standalone device 130D includes theOneTouch Verio Flex glucose meter by OneTouch and Smart Bluetooth BloodGlucose/Cholesterol Meter by Andesfit Health.

The system 100 may also comprise one or more dietary metering devices140 which may be in communication with a health monitoring device 130,client device 400, and/or server 300. Generally, a dietary meteringdevice 140 may comprise an electronic device which may be configured tostore and dispense edible nutritional items. A user 101 may interactwith the dietary metering device 140 to dispense metered amounts of theedible nutritional items which may then be consumed by the user 101.

The system 100 is configured to provide dietary health and informationwhich may be utilized by a user to achieve healthier eating habits andexercise to lose weight and maintain good cholesterol, glucose, bloodpressure, and sugar levels. The system 100 may receive biometric anddiagnostic health information of the user 101, via a client device 400or other device 120, 130, such as age, height, weight, glucose levels,blood pressure levels, and cholesterol levels. In preferred embodiments,the system 100 may receive biometric and diagnostic health informationon a daily basis, and a health application 121 of the system 100 maycalculate whether health results, such as weight, blood pressure,cholesterol levels, and glucose levels of the user 101 are improving. Infurther preferred embodiments, the health application 121 may providesuggestions to user 101, such as on a food plan, based on said results.In further preferred embodiments, the health application 121 may alsoperiodically give trends in a graphical manner of the data for a user101 to visually observe the actual results.

Referring now to FIG. 2, in an exemplary embodiment, a block diagramillustrates a server 300 of which one or more may be used in the system100 or standalone. The server 300 may be a digital computer that, interms of hardware architecture, generally includes a processor 302,input/output (I/O) interfaces 304, a network interface 306, a data store308, and memory 310. It should be appreciated by those of ordinary skillin the art that FIG. 2 depicts the server 300 in an oversimplifiedmanner, and a practical embodiment may include additional components andsuitably configured processing logic to support known or conventionaloperating features that are not described in detail herein. Thecomponents (302, 304, 306, 308, and 310) are communicatively coupled viaa local interface 312. The local interface 312 may be, for example butnot limited to, one or more buses or other wired or wirelessconnections, as is known in the art. The local interface 312 may haveadditional elements, which are omitted for simplicity, such ascontrollers, buffers (caches), drivers, repeaters, and receivers, amongmany others, to enable communications. Further, the local interface 312may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications among the aforementioned components.

The processor 302 is a hardware device for executing softwareinstructions. The processor 302 may be any custom made or commerciallyavailable processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliaryprocessor among several processors associated with the server 300, asemiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chipset), or generally any device for executing software instructions. Whenthe server 300 is in operation, the processor 302 is configured toexecute software stored within the memory 310, to communicate data toand from the memory 310, and to generally control operations of theserver 300 pursuant to the software instructions. The I/O interfaces 304may be used to receive user input from and/or for providing systemoutput to one or more devices or components. User input may be providedvia, for example, a keyboard, touch pad, and/or a mouse. System outputmay be provided via a display device and a printer (not shown). I/Ointerfaces 304 may include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port,a small computer system interface (SCSI), a serial ATA (SATA), a fibrechannel, Infiniband, iSCSI, a PCI Express interface (PCI-x), an infrared(IR) interface, a radio frequency (RF) interface, and/or a universalserial bus (USB) interface.

The network interface 306 may be used to enable the server 300 tocommunicate on a network, such as the Internet, the data network 105,the enterprise, and the like, etc. The network interface 306 mayinclude, for example, an Ethernet card or adapter (e.g., 10BaseT, FastEthernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GbE) or a wireless local area network(WLAN) card or adapter (e.g., 802.11a/b/g/n). The network interface 306may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications on the network.

A data store 308 may be used to store data. The data store 308 mayinclude any of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory(RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, and the like)), nonvolatile memoryelements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, and the like), andcombinations thereof. Moreover, the data store 308 may incorporateelectronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Inone example, the data store 308 may be located internal to the server300 such as, for example, an internal hard drive connected to the localinterface 312 in the server 300. Additionally in another embodiment, thedata store 308 may be located external to the server 300 such as, forexample, an external hard drive connected to the I/O interfaces 304(e.g., SCSI or USB connection). In a further embodiment, the data store308 may be connected to the server 300 through a network, such as, forexample, a network attached file server. Preferably, the system 100 maycomprise a system database 330 which may be stored in one or more datastores 308.

The memory 310 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatilememory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, etc.), andcombinations thereof. Moreover, the memory 310 may incorporateelectronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Notethat the memory 310 may have a distributed architecture, where variouscomponents are situated remotely from one another, but can be accessedby the processor 302. The software in memory 310 may include one or moresoftware programs, each of which includes an ordered listing ofexecutable instructions for implementing logical functions. The softwarein the memory 310 may include a suitable operating system (O/S) 314 andone or more programs 320.

The operating system 314 essentially controls the execution of othercomputer programs, such as the one or more programs 320, and providesscheduling, input-output control, file and data management, memorymanagement, and communication control and related services. Theoperating system 314 may be, for example Windows NT, Windows 2000,Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, WindowsServer 2003/2008/2012/2016 (all available from Microsoft, Corp. ofRedmond, Wash.), Solaris (available from Sun Microsystems, Inc. of PaloAlto, Calif.), LINUX (or another UNIX variant) (available from Red Hatof Raleigh, N.C. and various other vendors), Android and variantsthereof (available from Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.), Apple OSX and variants thereof (available from Apple, Inc. of Cupertino,Calif.), or the like. The one or more programs 320 may be configured toimplement the various processes, algorithms, methods, techniques, etc.described herein.

Referring to FIG. 3, in an exemplary embodiment, a block diagramillustrates a client device 400 of which one or more may be used in thesystem 100 or the like. The client device 400 can be a digital devicethat, in terms of hardware architecture, generally includes a processor402, input/output (I/O) interfaces 404, a radio 406, a data store 408,and memory 410. It should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill inthe art that FIG. 3 depicts the client device 400 in an oversimplifiedmanner, and a practical embodiment may include additional components andsuitably configured processing logic to support known or conventionaloperating features that are not described in detail herein. Thecomponents (402, 404, 406, 408, and 410) are communicatively coupled viaa local interface 412. The local interface 412 can be, for example butnot limited to, one or more buses or other wired or wirelessconnections, as is known in the art. The local interface 412 can haveadditional elements, which are omitted for simplicity, such ascontrollers, buffers (caches), drivers, repeaters, and receivers, amongmany others, to enable communications. Further, the local interface 412may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications among the aforementioned components.

The processor 402 is a hardware device for executing softwareinstructions. The processor 402 can be any custom made or commerciallyavailable processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliaryprocessor among several processors associated with the client device400, a semiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip orchip set), or generally any device for executing software instructions.When the client device 400 is in operation, the processor 402 isconfigured to execute software stored within the memory 410, tocommunicate data to and from the memory 410, and to generally controloperations of the client device 400 pursuant to the softwareinstructions. In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 402 may includea mobile optimized processor such as optimized for power consumption andmobile applications.

The I/O interfaces 404 can be used to receive data and user input and/orfor providing system output. User input can be provided via a pluralityof I/O interfaces 404, such as a keypad, a touch screen, a camera, amicrophone, a scroll ball, a scroll bar, buttons, bar code scanner,voice recognition, eye gesture, and the like. System output can beprovided via a display device 404A, such as a liquid crystal display(LCD), light emitting diode (LED) display, touch screen display, and thelike. The I/O interfaces 404 can also include, for example, a serialport, a parallel port, a small computer system interface (SCSI), aninfrared (IR) interface, a radio frequency (RF) interface, a universalserial bus (USB) interface, and the like. The I/O interfaces 404 caninclude a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a user to interactwith the client device 400. Additionally, the I/O interfaces 404 may beused to output notifications to a user and can include a speaker orother sound emitting device configured to emit audio notifications, avibrational device configured to vibrate, shake, or produce any otherseries of rapid and repeated movements to produce haptic notifications,and/or a light emitting diode (LED) or other light emitting elementwhich may be configured to illuminate to provide a visual notification.

The radio 406 enables wireless communication to an external accessdevice or network. Any number of suitable wireless data communicationprotocols, techniques, or methodologies can be supported by the radio406, including, without limitation: RF; IrDA (infrared); Bluetooth;ZigBee (and other variants of the IEEE 802.15 protocol); IEEE 802.11(any variation); Z-Wave wireless communications protocol used primarilyfor home automation; IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX or any other variation); DirectSequence Spread Spectrum; Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum; Long TermEvolution (LTE); cellular/wireless/cordless telecommunication protocols(e.g. 3G/4G, etc.); wireless home network communication protocols;paging network protocols; magnetic induction; satellite datacommunication protocols; wireless hospital or health care facilitynetwork protocols such as those operating in the WMTS bands; GPRS;proprietary wireless data communication protocols such as variants ofWireless USB; and any other protocols for wireless communication. Thedata store 408 may be used to store data. The data store 408 may includeany of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, suchas DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, and the like)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g.,ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, and the like), and combinations thereof.Moreover, the data store 408 may incorporate electronic, magnetic,optical, and/or other types of storage media.

The memory 410 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatilememory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, etc.), and combinations thereof.Moreover, the memory 410 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical,and/or other types of storage media. Note that the memory 410 may have adistributed architecture, where various components are situated remotelyfrom one another, but can be accessed by the processor 402. The softwarein memory 410 can include one or more software programs, each of whichincludes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementinglogical functions. In the example of FIG. 3, the software in the memorysystem 410 includes a suitable operating system (O/S) 414 and programs420.

The operating system 414 essentially controls the execution of othercomputer programs, and provides scheduling, input-output control, fileand data management, memory management, and communication control andrelated services. The operating system 414 may be, for example, LINUX(or another UNIX variant), Android (available from Google), Symbian OS,Microsoft Windows CE, Microsoft Windows 7 Mobile, iOS (available fromApple, Inc.), webOS (available from Hewlett Packard), Blackberry OS(Available from Research in Motion), and the like. The programs 420 mayinclude various applications, add-ons, etc. configured to provide enduser functionality with the client device 400. For example, exemplaryprograms 420 may include, but not limited to, a web browser, socialnetworking applications, streaming media applications, games, mappingand location applications, electronic mail applications, financialapplications, and the like. In a typical example, the end user 101typically uses one or more of the programs 420 along with a network 105to exchange information with the system 100.

Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, and 9, examples of a dietary metering device(“the device”) 140 are illustrated according to various embodiments. Thedevice 140 may comprise a housing 141 which may support and position oneor more of the other elements of the device 140. A housing 141 may beconfigured in any shape and size. One or more, such as six, reservoirs142 may be coupled to or otherwise supported by the housing 141. Eachreservoir 142 may be configured to hold or contain a volume of an ediblenutritional item. Reservoirs 142 may be configured in any size and shapeto hold and desired volume of an edible nutritional item. Preferably, alid 143 may be removably coupled to each reservoir 142 to govern accessto the interior of the reservoir 142, such as to maintain the freshnessof edible nutritional items within the reservoir 142.

An edible nutritional item may comprise any substance which may be eatenor otherwise ingested by a user 101. In preferred embodiments,nutritional items may comprise spices which typically include seed,fruit, root, bark, or other plant substances often used for flavoring,coloring or preserving food. Example spices include cardamom, cinnamon,allspice, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, turmeric, ginger, mace, saffron,vanilla, cumin, dill seed. In further embodiments, nutritional items maycomprise herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants usedfor flavoring or as a garnish. Example herbs include basil, bay leaf,celery seed, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, lemon grass, oregano,parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme. It should be understood,that any edible substance may be contained in a reservoir 142.

The device 140 may be configured to communicate metered amounts ofedible nutritional items from each reservoir 142 into a receptacle 144.A receptacle 144 may be configured in any size and shape. Preferably, areceptacle 144 may be configured generally as a spoon having a bowl orthe like for receiving various amounts of edible nutritional items.

In some embodiments, the device 140 may comprise a grinder 145. Inpreferred embodiments, edible nutritional items may be communicated fromeach reservoir 142 into a receptacle 144 upon passing through a grinder145 which may reduce the size of the edible nutritional items.Optionally, a grinder 145 may be configured to grind the ediblenutritional items in a range of sizes, such as between a course size, afine size, and sizes between. A grinder 145 may comprise one or moreblades, revolving abrasive surfaces, or any other suitable method ordevice for reducing the size of edible nutritional items.

In preferred embodiments, metered amounts of edible nutritional itemsmay be communicated from each reservoir 142 into a grinder 145 via oneor more dispensers 146, motivators 147, and motors 148. In someembodiments, a dispenser 146 may be generally configured as a paddlewheel so that by revolving the dispenser 146, one or more paddles mayrotate to propel or otherwise dispense metered amounts of ediblenutritional items. For example, each rotation of a dispenser 146 maypropel or dispense approximately one gram of edible nutritional itemsfrom a reservoir 142 into a grinder 145. In other embodiments, adispenser 146 may be configured as a conveyor belt, a screw pump, or anyother method or device for propelling or otherwise dispensing meteredamounts of edible nutritional items.

In some embodiments, a dispenser 146 may be moved by one or moremotivators 147 and motors 148. A motivator 147 may comprise anymechanical arrangement which provides controlled application of power,such as a gearbox or the like that uses gears and gear trains to providespeed and torque conversions from a rotating power source to anotherdevice. Preferably, a motor 148 may comprise an electric motor such as abrushed DC motor, brushless DC motor, switched reluctance motor,universal motor, AC polyphase squirrel-cage or wound-rotor inductionmotor, AC SCIM split-phase capacitor-start motor, AC SCIM split-phasecapacitor-run motor, AC SCIM split-phase auxiliary start winding motor,AC induction shaded-pole motor, wound-rotor synchronous motor,hysteresis motor, synchronous reluctance motor, pancake or axial rotormotor, stepper motor, or any other type of motor.

In some embodiments, the device 140 may comprise a power source 149which may provide electrical power to any component that may requireelectrical power. In further embodiments, a power source 149 maycomprise a power cord, optionally including a transformer. In stillfurther embodiments, a power source 149 may comprise a battery, such asa lithium ion battery, nickel cadmium battery, alkaline battery, or anyother suitable type of battery, a fuel cell, a capacitor, a supercapacitor, or any other type of energy storing and/or electricityreleasing device. In further embodiments, a power source 149 maycomprise a kinetic or piezo electric battery charging device, a solarcell or photovoltaic cell, and/or inductive charging or wireless powerreceiver. In further embodiments, a power source 149 may comprise apower charging and distribution module which may be configured tocontrol the recharging of the power source 149, discharging of the powersource 149, and/or distribution of power to one or more components ofthe device 140 that may require electrical power.

In some embodiments, the device 140 may comprise one or more controlinputs 159 that a user 101 may interact with, such as turnable controlknobs, depressible button type switches, a key pad, slide type switches,rocker type switches, touch screen graphical user interfaces (GUI), orany other suitable input that may be used to modulate electricitybetween components or to otherwise control functions of the device 140.Generally, a user 101 may interact with a control input 159 to controlfunctions of the device 140, such as: to power on/off the device; toselect an amount of an edible nutritional item to be dispensed from areservoir 142 into a receptacle 144; to select how course or fine togrind an edible nutritional item dispensed from a reservoir 142 into areceptacle 144; to select from which reservoir 142 an edible nutritionalitem is to be dispensed; to enter into a control unit 150 which ediblenutritional item is in which reservoir 142; and any other user 101controlled function.

As perhaps best shown in FIG. 6, the device 140 may comprise a controlunit 50 which may be in electronic communication with the motors 148,power source 149, control inputs 159, and any other element of thedevice 140. In some embodiments and in the present example, the device140 can be a digital device that, in terms of hardware architecture,comprises a control unit 150 which optionally includes a processor 151,input/output (I/O) interfaces 152, a radio module 153, a data store 154,and memory 155. It should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill inthe art that FIG. 6 depicts the device 140 in an oversimplified manner,and a practical embodiment may include additional components or elementsand suitably configured processing logic to support known orconventional operating features that are not described in detail herein.The components and elements (150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 148, 149, and159) are communicatively coupled via a local interface 158. The localinterface 158 can be, for example but not limited to, one or more buses,circuit boards, wiring harnesses, or other wired connections or wirelessconnections, as is known in the art. The local interface 158 can haveadditional elements, which are omitted for simplicity, such ascontrollers, buffers (caches), drivers, repeaters, and receivers, amongmany others, to enable communications. Further, the local interface 158may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications among the aforementioned components.

The processor 151 is a hardware device for executing softwareinstructions. The processor 151 can be any custom made or commerciallyavailable processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliaryprocessor among several processors associated with the control unit 150,a semiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chipset), or generally any device for executing software instructions. Whenthe processing unit 150 is in operation, the processor 151 is configuredto execute software stored within the memory 155, to communicate data toand from the memory 155, and to generally control operations of thedevice 140 pursuant to the software instructions and/or frominstructions received from a control input 159. In an exemplaryembodiment, the processor 51 may include a mobile optimized processorsuch as optimized for power consumption and mobile applications.

In addition to control inputs 159, the I/O interfaces 152 can be used toby a user 101 to provide input, such as which may be used to control oneor more functions of the device 140. The I/O interfaces 152 can include,for example, buttons, knobs, switches, LED indicator lights, LEDdisplay, LCD display, a serial port, a parallel port, a small computersystem interface (SCSI), an infrared (IR) interface, a radio frequency(RF) interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and the like.

An optional radio module 153 enables wireless communication to anexternal access device or network. In preferred embodiments, a radio 153may operate via WiFi communication standards. In further embodiments, aradio 153 may operate on a cellular band and may communicate with orreceive a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card or other wirelessnetwork identifier. Any number of suitable wireless data communicationprotocols, techniques, or methodologies can be supported by the radio153, including, without limitation: RF; IrDA (infrared); Bluetooth;ZigBee (and other variants of the IEEE 802.15 protocol); IEEE 802.11(any variation); IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX or any other variation); DirectSequence Spread Spectrum; Near-Field Communication (NFC); FrequencyHopping Spread Spectrum; Long Term Evolution (LTE);cellular/wireless/cordless telecommunication protocols (e.g. 3G/4G,etc.); wireless home network communication protocols; paging networkprotocols; magnetic induction; satellite data communication protocols;wireless hospital or health care facility network protocols such asthose operating in the WMTS bands; GPRS; proprietary wireless datacommunication protocols such as variants of Wireless USB; and any otherprotocols for wireless communication. An optional data store 154 may beused to store data. The data store 154 may include any of volatilememory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM,SDRAM, and the like)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, harddrive, tape, CDROM, and the like), and combinations thereof. Moreover,the data store 154 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/orother types of storage media.

The memory 155 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatilememory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, etc.), and combinations thereof.Moreover, the memory 155 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical,and/or other types of storage media. Note that the memory 155 may have adistributed architecture, where various components are situated remotelyfrom one another, but can be accessed by the processor 151. The softwarein memory 155 can include one or more software programs, each of whichincludes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementinglogical functions. In the example of FIG. 6, the software in the memorysystem 155 includes a suitable operating system (O/S) 156 and program(s)157. The operating system 156 essentially controls the execution ofinput/output interface 152 functions, and provides scheduling,input-output control, file and data management, memory management, andcommunication control and related services. The operating system 156 maybe, for example, LINUX (or another UNIX variant), Android (availablefrom Google), Symbian OS, Microsoft Windows CE, Microsoft Windows 7Mobile, iOS (available from Apple, Inc.), webOS (available from HewlettPackard), Blackberry OS (Available from Research in Motion), and thelike. The programs 157 may include various applications, add-ons, etc.configured to provide end user functionality with the device 140. Forexample, exemplary programs 157 may include, but not limited to,instructions for operating the motors 148 to dispense a metered amountof an edible nutritional item from one or more reservoirs 142. In afurther example, a program 157 may enable one or more functions of thedevice 140 to be controlled via a health application 121 or otherprograms 320, 420, of one or more client devices 400 and/or servers 300.

Further, many embodiments are described in terms of sequences of actionsto be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It willbe recognized that various actions described herein can be performed byspecific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or moreprocessors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequence ofactions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirelywithin any form of computer readable storage medium having storedtherein a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon executionwould cause an associated processor to perform the functionalitydescribed herein. Thus, the various aspects of the invention may beembodied in a number of different forms, all of which have beencontemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Inaddition, for each of the embodiments described herein, thecorresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as,for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action.

The control unit 50 may also include a main memory, such as a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device (e.g., dynamic RAM(DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), and synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)), coupled to thebus for storing information and instructions to be executed by theprocessor 51. In addition, the main memory may be used for storingtemporary variables or other intermediate information during theexecution of instructions by the processor 51. The control unit 50 mayfurther include a read only memory (ROM) or other static storage device(e.g., programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), and electricallyerasable PROM (EEPROM)) coupled to the bus for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processor 51.

While some exemplary shapes and sizes have been provided for elements ofthe device 140, it should be understood to one of ordinary skill in theart that the housing 11, reservoirs 142, receptacle 144, and any otherelement described herein may be configured in a plurality of sizes andshapes including “T” shaped, “X” shaped, square shaped, rectangularshaped, cylinder shaped, cuboid shaped, hexagonal prism shaped,triangular prism shaped, or any other geometric or non-geometric shape,including combinations of shapes. It is not intended herein to mentionall the possible alternatives, equivalent forms or ramifications of theinvention. It is understood that the terms and proposed shapes usedherein are merely descriptive, rather than limiting, and that variouschanges, such as to size and shape, may be made without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention.

Additionally, while some materials have been provided, in otherembodiments, the elements that comprise the device 140 may be made fromor may comprise durable materials such as aluminum, steel, other metalsand metal alloys, wood, hard rubbers, hard plastics, fiber reinforcedplastics, carbon fiber, fiber glass, resins, polymers or any othersuitable materials including combinations of materials. Additionally,one or more elements may be made from or comprise durable and slightlyflexible materials such as soft plastics, silicone, soft rubbers, or anyother suitable materials including combinations of materials. In someembodiments, one or more of the elements that comprise the device 140may be coupled or connected together with heat bonding, chemicalbonding, adhesives, clasp type fasteners, clip type fasteners, rivettype fasteners, threaded type fasteners, other types of fasteners, orany other suitable joining method. In other embodiments, one or more ofthe elements that comprise the device 140 may be coupled or removablyconnected by being press fit or snap fit together, by one or morefasteners such as hook and loop type or Velcro® fasteners, magnetic typefasteners, threaded type fasteners, sealable tongue and groovefasteners, snap fasteners, clip type fasteners, clasp type fasteners,ratchet type fasteners, a push-to-lock type connection method, aturn-to-lock type connection method, a slide-to-lock type connectionmethod or any other suitable temporary connection method as onereasonably skilled in the art could envision to serve the same function.In further embodiments, one or more of the elements that comprise thedevice 140 may be coupled by being one of connected to and integrallyformed with another element of the device 140.

Referring now to FIG. 11 a block diagram showing some software rulesengines and components which may be found in a system 100 and which mayoptionally be configured to run on one or more dietary metering device140, servers 300, and/or client devices 400 according to variousembodiments described herein are illustrated. A dietary metering device140, server 300, and/or client device 400 may be in wired and/orwireless electronic communication through a network 105 with a datastore 308. The engines 121, 122, 123, may be in electronic communicationso that data may be readily exchanged between the engines 121, 122, 123,and one or more engines 121, 122, 123, may read, write, or otherwiseaccess data in one or more databases 120 of one or more data stores 308.

In this and some embodiments, one or more servers 300 may be configuredto run one or more software rules engines or programs such as ananalytics engine 123, while a client device 400 and/or a healthmonitoring device 130 may be configured to run one or more softwarerules engines or programs such as a health application 121 and anacquisition engine 122. In other embodiments, a health application 121,an acquisition engine 122, and/or an analytics engine 123 may beconfigured to run on one or more dietary metering devices 140, clientdevices 400, and/or servers 300 with data transferred to and from ahealth application 121, an acquisition engine 122, and/or an analyticsengine 123 that may be in communication with a data store 308 through anetwork 105. It should be understood that the functions attributed tothe engines 121, 122, 123, described herein are exemplary in nature, andthat in alternative embodiments, any function attributed to any engine121, 122, 123, may be performed by one or more other engines 121, 122,123, or any other suitable processor logic.

The system 100 may comprise one or more databases, such as a systemdatabase 120, which may be stored on a data store 308 accessible to oneor more engines 121, 122, 123. It should be understood that thedescribed structure of the system database 120 is exemplary in nature,and that in alternative embodiments, the data contained within thesystem database 120 may be organized in any other way.

In some embodiments, a system database 120 may comprise information thatone or more users 101, such as a plurality of users 101, desire to inputinto the system 100 including information provided by one or more users101, such as information on or describing one or more users 101,baseline health information of each user 101, medical test results,other medical diagnostic results of one or more users 101, informationon or describing one or more medical conditions and diagnoses,information on or describing dietary habits of one or more users 101,information on or describing dietary allergies of one or more users 101,information on or describing activity or exercise habits of one or moreusers 101, and any other information which a user 101 may provide or beprovided with for the purposes of receiving dietary and healthinformation.

In some embodiments, a system database 120 may also include nutritionand exercise data for each user 101. Nutrition data may include datadescribing the types of foods and drinks each user 101 consumes, theamounts of foods and drinks each user 101 consumes, the times each user101 consumes foods and drinks throughout the day, and any other datawhich may describe the caloric food and drink intake (and non-caloricintake, such as water) of each user 101. The system database 120 mayalso include a calorie count table that describes the amount of caloriesin one or more volumes of foods, including in edible nutritional items.Exercise data may include data describing the types of physicalactivities and exercise, amounts of physical activities and exercise,and times of physical activities and exercise that each user 101participates in. In further embodiments, a system database 120 maycomprise biometric data for each user 101 that may be recorded by one ormore health monitoring devices 130. Example biometric data for each user101 may comprise one or more weight measurements, cholesterolmeasurements, blood pressure measurements, and blood glucosemeasurements.

In some embodiments, a system database 120 may also include one or moremodifications which may be provided to a user 101. Generally, amodification may comprise a health recommendation that the system 100may provide to a user 101, and the health recommendation may includeinformation describing an exercise recommendation that a user 101 mayperform to enable the user 101 to achieve one or more biometric datagoals and/or the health recommendation may include informationdescribing a dietary recommendation that a user 101 may perform toenable the user 101 to achieve one or more biometric data goals. As anexample, an exercise recommendation may comprise information describinga cardio fitness exercise, such as jogging, and how long and/or far theuser 101 should jog and how frequently the user should jog. As anotherexample, a dietary recommendation may comprise a minimum number of foodcalories, a maximum number of food calories, and/or a range of foodcalories that a user 101 should consume in a day or at a meal/snacktime. In preferred embodiments, a dietary recommendation may comprise anamount of an edible nutritional item that may be stored in and dispensedfrom a dietary metering device 140 that a user 101 may consume to meet abiometric goal. Generally, modifications may describe dietary and/orexercise changes that may be implemented to the nutrition and exerciseroutine of a user 101 that when implemented may result in the user 101meeting their biometric goal(s).

The system 100 may comprise one or more health applications 121. Ahealth application 121 may comprise or function as communication logicstored in a memory 310, 410, 155, which may be executable by theprocessor 302, 402, 151, of a server 300, client device 400, and/ordietary metering device 140. Generally, a health application 121 may berun on a client device 400, and/or dietary metering device 140 toprovide user interface for a user to input data to the system 100 andfor outputting system data to a user 101.

In some embodiments, a health application 121 may be configured tooperate an I/O interface 404, such as a display screen 404A (optionallyof a touchscreen interface), of a client device 400 operated by a user101 in order to provide and receive information from the user 101. Inpreferred embodiments, a health application 121 may be configured toprovide one or more modifications to the user 101, via their clientdevice 400, as selected by an analytics engine 123. In furtherembodiments, a health application 121 may be configured to receive inputfrom a user 101, in which the input comprises a biometric data goal, viaan I/O interface 404 of a client device 400. In further embodiments, ahealth application 121 may be configured to receive input from a user101, in which the input comprises baseline health information of a user101, via an I/O interface 404 of a client device 400. In still furtherembodiments, a communication engine 132 may be configured to operate anyof the I/O interfaces 404 of a client device 400 to allow the system 100to input and output information from and to a user 101 via a clientdevice 400.

The system 100 may comprise one or more acquisition engines 122. Anacquisition engine 122 may comprise or function as acquisition logicstored in a memory 310, 410, which may be executable by the processor302, 402, of a server 300 and/or client device 400. Generally, anacquisition engine 122 may be run on a client device 400, and/or server300 to receive user data, user biometric data, user nutrition data, anduser exercise data from health monitoring devices 130 and client devices400, and to provide the data to an analytics engine 123.

In some embodiments, an acquisition engine 122 may acquire or receivebaseline health information of a user 101 from health monitoring devices130, dietary metering devices 140, and/or client devices 400 and thencommunicate the baseline health information to an analytics engine 123.In this manner, an acquisition engine 122 be configured to interfacewith a plurality of different brands monitoring devices 130, dietarymetering devices 140, and/or client devices 400 to allow the analyticsengine 123 to receive and send data with these devices 130, 140, 400. Infurther embodiments an acquisition engine 122 may acquire or receivenutrition or food intake data of a user, such as by usingRadio-frequency identification (RFID) tags embedded in a food containerread by dietary metering devices 140, and/or client devices 400, and byusing a camera to scan the UPC code of food items, via dietary meteringdevices 140, and/or client devices 400. In further embodiments anacquisition engine 122 may acquire or receive exercise data from ahealth application 121 of a server 300, client device 400, and/ordietary metering device 140.

The system 100 may comprise one or more analytics engines 123. Ananalytics engine 123 may comprise or function as analytic logic storedin a memory 310, 410, which may be executable by the processor 302, 402,of a server 300 and/or client device 400. Preferably, an analyticsengine 123 may be run on a server 300 to analyze user data, userbiometric data, user nutrition data, and user exercise data from healthmonitoring devices 130 and client devices 400, and to generatemodifications for the users 101 of the system 100.

An analytics engine 123 may be configured to generate one or moremodifications for the users 101 of the system 100. Generally, amodification may comprise a health recommendation that the system 100may provide to a user 101. A health recommendation may includeinformation describing an activity that a user 101 may perform, and byperforming that activity, the health of the user 101 may be improved toenable the user 101 to achieve one or more biometric data goals thatthey have input into the system 100. In some embodiments, a healthrecommendation may comprise or include an exercise recommendation that auser 101 may perform to enable the user 101 to achieve one or morebiometric data goals. In some embodiments, a health recommendation maycomprise or include a health recommendation may include informationdescribing a dietary recommendation that a user 101 may perform toenable the user 101 to achieve one or more biometric data goals.

In some embodiments, a biometric data goal of a user 101 may describe adesired change in the weight of the user 101, and analytics engine 123may provide a dietary recommendation, to the health application 121running on a client device 400 or dietary metering device 140 thatdescribes a daily number of calories that the user 101 should consume toenable the user 101 to achieve the desired change in the weight of theuser 101.

In some embodiments, an analytics engine 123 may be configured toanalyze the user data, user biometric data, user nutrition data, anduser exercise data of a single user 101 and based on this data (singleuser data) the analytics engine 123 may generate one or moremodifications for that user 101. For example, an analytics engine 123may be configured to: determine effect of exercise data of a user 101 onthe biometric data of that user 101; determine effect of food intakedata of a user 101 on biometric data of that user 101; analyze exercisedata of a user 101 and analyze the type and amount of exercises and itseffect on the body's weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucoselevels of that user 101; analyze food intake data of a user 101 andanalyze the type of food they are eating and its effect on the body'sweight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels of that user101; and analyze biometric data of a user 101 as a whole. Using thissingle user data, the analytics engine 123 may then generate one or morerecommendations for the user 101, which when performed by the user 101will improve their health. As examples, an analytics engine 123 usingsingle user data may: provide a health recommendation having a dietaryrecommendation that informs the user 101 what food to eat to stabilizeyour weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels (preferablymay pull up the food suggestions based on an embedded calorie counttable); provide a health recommendation having a dietary recommendationthat provides preferable food options to the user 101 not simply basedon calorie count, but rather based on an entire user profile from bloodlevels, sugar levels, cholesterol levels, etc., attained from theirrespective devices; and provide a health recommendation having anexercise recommendation which includes exercises to perform to stabilizethe user's weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels.

In further embodiments, an analytics engine 123 may be configured toanalyze the user data, user biometric data, user nutrition data, anduser exercise data of a two or more, and more preferably, a plurality ofusers 101 and based on this data the analytics engine 123 may generateone or more modifications for a user 101. For example, an analyticsengine 123 may be configured to: determine effect of exercise data of aplurality of users 101 on the biometric data of the plurality of users101; determine effect of food intake data of a plurality of users 101 onbiometric data of the plurality of users 101; analyze exercise data of aplurality of users 101 and analyze the type and amount of exercises andits effect on the body's weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, andglucose levels of the plurality of users 101; analyze food intake dataof a plurality of users 101 and analyze the type of food they are eatingand its effect on the body's weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, andglucose levels of the plurality of users 101; and analyze biometric dataof the plurality of users 101 as a whole. Using this plurality userdata, the analytics engine 123 may then generate one or morerecommendations for the individual users 101 of the system 100, whichwhen performed by a user 101 will improve their health. As examples, ananalytics engine 123, using of the plurality of users 101 may: provide ahealth recommendation having a dietary recommendation that informs auser 101 what food to eat to stabilize their weight, cholesterol, bloodpressure, and glucose levels (preferably may pull up the foodsuggestions based on an embedded calorie count table); provide a healthrecommendation having a dietary recommendation that provides preferablefood options to a user 101 not simply based on calorie count, but ratherbased on an entire user profile from blood levels, sugar levels,cholesterol levels, etc., attained from their respective healthmonitoring devices 130; provide a health recommendation having anexercise recommendation which includes exercises to perform to stabilizea user's 101 weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method fordispensing edible nutritional items from a dietary metering device (“themethod”) 700 according to various embodiments described herein. Themethod 700 may be used to dispense edible nutritional items from adietary metering device 140 by a user 101. One or more steps of themethod 700 may be performed by one or more health applications 121,acquisition engines 122, and/or an analytics engines 123 which may beexecuted by a computing device processor, such as a processor 151 (FIG.6), processor 302 (FIG. 2), and/or a processor 402 (FIG. 3). It shouldbe understood that the ordering of the steps may be modified while stillenabling completion of the method 700.

The method 700 may start 701 and edible nutrition item selection inputmay be received in step 702. In some embodiments, the edible nutritionitem selection input may be received from a user 101 via controlinput(s) 159 by a program 157 of a device 140. In further embodiments,edible nutrition item selection input may be received from a user 101via a health application 121 running on a client device 400 and/orserver 300. Generally, the edible nutrition item selection input maydescribe an edible nutrition item that the user 101 desires to havedispensed from a reservoir 142 and into a receptacle 144. Optionally,the edible nutrition item selection input may describe how the user 101would like the edible nutrition item to be ground by a grinder 145.

In decision block 703, the device 140 may determine if all the desirededible nutrition items have been selected. In some embodiments, aprogram 157 of the device 140 may determine if all the desired ediblenutrition items have been selected via input received from a user 101via control input(s) 159 of a device 140. In further embodiments, aprogram 157 of the device 140 may determine if all the desired ediblenutrition items have been selected via input received from a user 101via a health application 121 running on a client device 400 and/orserver 300. If all the desired edible nutrition items have not beenselected, the method 700 may continue to step 702 to receive additionaledible nutrition item selection input. If all the desired ediblenutrition items have been selected, the method 700 may continue to step704.

In step 704, desired quantity input may be received. In someembodiments, the desired quantity input may be received from a user 101via control input(s) 159 by a program 157 of a device 140. In furtherembodiments, desired quantity input may be received from a user 101 viaa health application 121 running on a client device 400 and/or server300. Generally, the desired quantity input may describe the quantity ofone or more edible nutrition items that the user 101 desires to havedispensed from a reservoir 142 and into a receptacle 144. Optionally,the desired quantity input may describe how the user 101 would like theedible nutrition item to be ground by a grinder 145.

In decision block 705, the device 140 may determine if all quantities ofthe desired edible nutrition items have been selected. In someembodiments, a program 157 of the device 140 may determine if allquantities of the desired edible nutrition items have been selected viainput received from a user 101 via control input(s) 159 of a device 140.In further embodiments, a program 157 of the device 140 may determine ifall quantities of the desired edible nutrition items have been selectedvia input received from a user 101 via a health application 121 runningon a client device 400 and/or server 300. If all the quantities have notbeen selected, the method 700 may continue to step 704 to receiveadditional quantity selection input. If all the quantities of thedesired edible nutrition items have been selected, the method 700 maycontinue to step 706.

In step 706, the dispensers 146 of the reservoirs 142 holding thedesired edible nutrition items may be activated to dispense the desiredquantities of the edible nutrition items. In some embodiments, a program157 of the device 140 may active the motors 148 of the dispensers 146 todispense the desired quantities of the edible nutrition items from thereservoirs 142 into the receptacle 144 preferably via a grinder 145.

In decision block 707, the device 140 may determine if the dispensedquantities of the edible nutrition items may be saved as a recipe, suchas in a data store 154 of the device 140, a data store 408 of a clientdevice 400, and/or a data store 308 of a server 300 for future access.In some embodiments, a program 157 of the device 140 may determine ifthe dispensed quantities of the edible nutrition items may be saved as arecipe via input received from a user 101 via control input(s) 159 of adevice 140. In further embodiments, a program 157 of the device 140 maydetermine if the dispensed quantities of the edible nutrition items maybe saved as a recipe via input received from a user 101 via a healthapplication 121 running on a client device 400 and/or server 300. If thedispensed quantities of the edible nutrition items are not to be savedas a recipe, the method 700 may finish 709. If the dispensed quantitiesof the edible nutrition items are to be saved as a recipe, the method700 may continue to step 708.

In step 708, recipe descriptor input may be received. In someembodiments, the recipe descriptor input may be received from a user 101via control input(s) 159 by a program 157 of a device 140. In furtherembodiments, recipe descriptor input may be received from a user 101 viaa health application 121 running on a client device 400 and/or server300. Generally, the recipe descriptor input may describe the quantitiesof each edible nutrition items that were dispensed from a reservoir 142and into a receptacle 144 in steps 702-707 for access at a later time.After step 708, the method 700 may finish 709.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of an example of a method for providingdietary health and progress information (“the method”) 800 according tovarious embodiments described herein. The method 800 may be used toprovide dietary health and progress information to a user 101 via aclient device 400 and/or a dietary metering device 140. One or moresteps of the method 800 may be performed by one or more healthapplications 121, acquisition engines 122, and/or an analytics engines123 which may be executed by a computing device processor, such as aprocessor 151 (FIG. 6), processor 302 (FIG. 2), and/or a processor 402(FIG. 3). It should be understood that the ordering of the steps may bemodified while still enabling completion of the method 800.

The method 800 may start 801 and user data of a user 101 may be receivedfrom one or more health monitoring device(s) 130 and/or client devices400 in step 802 via user 101 input provided to a health application 121.In some embodiments, user data 101 may include describe one or morehealth goals or biometric data goals of the user 101. For example, abiometric data goal may describe a desired body fat percentage, physicalactivity level, daily caloric intake, and other goals that the user 101desires to achieve. Other example biometric data goals include: adesired body weight measurement or range of measurements, a desiredcholesterol measurement or range of measurements, a desired bloodpressure measurement or range of measurements, and a desired bloodglucose measurement or range of measurements. In further embodiments,user data may describe one or more client devices 400, health monitoringdevices 130, and/or dietary metering devices 140 that the user 101desires to use. In still further embodiments, user data may includelogin credentials, billing information, contact information, and otheraccount information for that user 101 which may be used by the system100.

In step 803, baseline health information of the user 101 may bereceived. In some embodiments, the baseline health information may bereceived from a user 101 via control input(s) 159 by a healthapplication 121 of a device 140. In further embodiments, baseline healthinformation may be received from a user 101 via a health application 121running on a client device 400 and/or server 300. Generally, thebaseline health information may describe the baseline health informationof the user 101, such as age, height, weight, glucose levels, bloodpressure levels, and cholesterol levels. Preferably, baseline healthinformation may be provided via one or more health monitoring devices130. In some embodiments, a health monitoring device 130 may comprise apatch that may be wearable by a user 101, and which may be configured toprovide information describing a user's 101 blood glucose levels, serumcholesterol levels, blood pressure readings, and/or any other healthbiometric and test result information of the user 101. In furtherembodiments, a health monitoring device 130 may comprise an electronicdevice or manually operated device, such as a blood pressurecuff/machine, a blood glucose strip testing device, a serum cholesterollevel measuring machine, or any other device that may not be wearablefor extended periods of time but which may be used to periodicallyprovide health biometric and test result information of the user 101.Optionally, based on the baseline health information the healthapplication 121 may provide daily calorie requirements for the user 101via a display screen of the user's client device 400.

In step 804, user nutrition and exercise data of the user 101 may bereceived from one or more health monitoring device(s) 130 and/or clientdevices 400 via user 101 input provided to a health application 121. Insome embodiments, the nutrition and exercise data may describe caloriecount data and nutritional data of foods eaten by the user 101 over aperiod of time, such as a breakfast time period, lunch time period,snack time period, dinner time period, and daily time period, which maybe entered by the user 101 into a health application 121 running ontheir client device 400 and/or server 300. In further embodiments, thenutrition and exercise data may comprise data recorded by the one ormore health monitoring devices 130 utilized by the user 101. In stillfurther embodiments, the user data may comprise data describing exerciseand physical activity of the user 101 over a period of time.

In step 805, biometric data of the user 101 may be received. In someembodiments, an acquisition engine 122 may receive user biometric datafrom a health monitoring device 130, such as a patch device 130A, bloodpressure cuff/machine device 130B, weight scale device 130C, and astandalone device 130D. The biometric data of the user 101 may include abody weight measurement, a cholesterol measurement, a blood pressuremeasurement, a blood glucose measurement, body fat percentagemeasurement, or any other human body metric.

In step 806, the health progress of the user 101 may be calculated.Generally, a health application 121 may use the information obtained instep 803 to calculate the resulting changes to the body and health ofthe user 101. For example, the health progress may be calculated usingcalorie intake and exercise statistics for the user 101 over a timeperiod, such as a day, and how the user's weight may change if thecalorie intake and exercise statistics are maintained and/or changed.

In step 807, the health progress of the user 101 may be provided. Healthprogress includes data describing changes of the user's 101 biometricdata, and more preferably data describing the progress of a biometricdata of the user 101 towards a biometric data goal of that user 101. Insome embodiments, the health progress of the user 101 may be providedvia a display screen 404A of a client device 400 and/or a display device152A of a dietary metering device 140 running the health application 121which is being utilized by the user 101. Optionally, the health progressof the user 101 may be provided to be shared with one or more otherclient devices 400, such as by being posted to social media sites andother social digital content sites.

In decision block 808, the health application 121 may determine if thegoals of the user 101 are being met. In some embodiments, the healthapplication 121 may determine if the goals of the user 101 entered instep 802 will be met using the health progress of the user that wascalculated in step 806. If the goals of the user 101 are being met, themethod 800 may cycle to step 804 and/or 805 any number of times and thenon to step 806. If the goals of the user 101 are being met, the method800 may proceed to step 809.

In step 809, modifications may be provided to the user 101. Generally,modifications may describe dietary and/or exercise changes that may beimplemented to the nutrition and exercise data of step 804 that whenimplemented may result in the user 101 meeting their biometric datagoals. Preferably, a health application 121 may provide themodifications via the user's client device 400 and optionally via adietary metering device 140. After step 809, the method 800 may cycle tostep 804 and/or 805 any number of times and then on to step 806 oroptionally finish 810.

It should be understood that steps 804 and/or 805 may be performed anynumber of times to track the progress of a user 101 in achieving one ormore of their biometric data goals. As another example of animplementation of method 800, input may be received from a user 101through a health application 121 running on a client device 400, and theinput may comprise one or more biometric data goals in step 802. In step803, baseline health information of the user 101 may be received by anacquisition engine 122 via a health monitoring device 130, and thebaseline health information may include a first biometric data in whichthe first biometric data is wirelessly or wiredly communicated from thehealth monitoring device 130 to the health application 121 on the clientdevice 400 in step 803. In step 804, user nutrition and exercise datamay be received via the health application 121 running on the clientdevice 400. A first modification may be generated by an analytics engine123 and provided to the user 101 via the health application 121 runningon the client device, and the first modification may include a healthrecommendation to achieve the biometric data goal of the user 101. Thenthe method 800 may continue to step 805 in which a second biometric datamay be taken after a period of time after the first biometric data isreceived. The method 800 may then continue from step 805 to steps 806,807, 808, and then to step 809, so that the method 800 further comprisesthe step of providing a second modification to the user 101 via theclient device, in which the second modification is provided after thestep of recording the second biometric data.

Turning now to FIG. 9, another embodiment of a dietary metering device140 is depicted. In some embodiments, the device 140 may comprise adispensing motor 148A which may be configured to be moved into variouspositions in order to operate the dispensers 146 of the device 140.Preferably, each reservoir 142 may be in communication with its owndispenser 146 and motivator 147. The dispensing motor 148A may becoupled to a carousel 161 which may be moved by a motor 148 which maymove the carousel 161 in order to move the dispensing motor 148A intocontact with a motivator 147 of a desired reservoir 142. Once in contactwith a motivator 147 of a desired reservoir 142, the dispensing motor148A may be actuated to cause the motivator 147 to dispense a meteredamount of an edible nutritional item from the reservoir 142.

In preferred embodiments, a carousel 161 may be generally disk orcylinder shaped. In other embodiments, a carousel 161 may be configuredin any other shape. In some embodiments, the device 140 may comprise apositional sensor 162 which may be in communication with the controlunit 150, and data from the positional sensor 162 may be used by thecontrol unit 150 to determine the position of the carousel 161 andtherefore the position of the dispensing motor 148A. In preferredembodiments, a positional sensor 162 may comprise an optical sensorwhich may read one or more positional indicators 163 coupled to, formedinto, or applied to the carousel 161. For example, a positional sensor162 and carousel 161 with positional indicators 163 may comprise a lightchopper wheel (rotatable by a motor 148 controlled by the control unit150) and optical slot sensor or beam splitter. Light passing through orbeing blocked by the positional indicators 163 may be read by theoptical positional sensor 162 in order to determine the position of thecarousel 161/dispensing motor 148A. In other embodiments, a positionalsensor 162 may comprise any other type of sensor which may be used tocommunicate positional data of the carousel 161/dispensing motor 148A tothe control unit 150.

In preferred embodiments, each reservoir 142 of the device 140 maycomprise a data device 164, such as a one-time programmablemicrocontroller, RFID tag, barcode, etc., which may be integrated intobottom or other location on each reservoir 142. The microcontroller,RFID tag, or other data device may comprise data which may be readableby the control unit 150. This data may include type of the ediblenutritional item in a reservoir 142, date of manufacture of the ediblenutritional item in a reservoir 142, keys verifying genuine product,and/or any other data which may describe the contents of the reservoir142.

FIG. 10 depicts another example of a method for dispensing ediblenutritional items from a dietary metering device (“the method”) 1000according to various embodiments described herein. The method 1000 maybe used by a device 140 as shown in FIG. 9 having a dispensing motor148A which may be moved to operate the various dispensers 146 of thedevice 140.

In some embodiments, the method 1000 may start 1001 and an enter commandmay be displayed to a user in step 1002. For example, an enter commandmay be displayed on a touch screen display device 152A/input device 152Bthat instructs the user to select one or more edible nutritional itemsto be dispensed from the reservoirs 142 of the device 140.

In step 1003, an input command may be provided to the device 140 by theuser. For example, the user may operate the touch screen display device152A/input device 152B to select one or more edible nutritional items tobe dispensed from the reservoirs 142 of the device 140.

In decision block 1004, the control unit 150 may determine if the inputprovided in step 1003 is a new recipe. If the input is a new recipe, themethod may proceed to step 1005. If the input is not a new recipe, themethod may proceed to step 1009.

In steps 1005 and 1006, the user may use the display device 152A/inputdevice 152B to input a desired edible nutritional item (spice in thisexample) and a desired amount of the edible nutritional item. Indecision block 1007, the method 1000 may continue to step 1005 if thereare more edible nutritional items to be entered by the user or to step1008 if not more edible nutritional items to be entered and the recipemay be stored by the control unit 150. After step 1008, the method 1000may proceed to step 1003.

In step 1009, the control unit 150 may check the edible nutritional iteminventory contained in the reservoirs 142 and proceed to decision block1010. If edible nutritional item inventory is not sufficient to providethe desired edible nutritional item(s) entered by the user, then thedisplay device 152A may display an error message to the user. If ediblenutritional item inventory is sufficient to provide the desired ediblenutritional item(s) entered by the user, the method 1000 may proceed tostep 1012.

In step 1012, the selector (carousel 161 in this example) may be moveduntil the dispensing motor 148A is proximate a reservoir 142 having adesired edible nutritional item. In step 1013, the dispensing motor 148Amay be raised or otherwise positioned (such as via a small servo orother actuator) in contact with a motivator 147 that is able to move thedispenser 146 of the reservoir 142 having the desired edible nutritionalitem. In step 1014, the dispensing motor 148A may be operated to causethe dispenser 146 to dispense the desired amount of the ediblenutritional item.

Next in decision block 1015, the control unit 150 may determine if therecipe is finished. If the recipe is not finished and requires anotheredible nutritional item, the method 1000 may continue to step 1012. Ifthe recipe is finished and does not require another edible nutritionalitem, the method may proceed to step 1002 and the control unit 150 mayawait further user input by displaying the enter command.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram of an example of a computer-implementedmethod for generating modifications (“the method”) 1200 according tovarious embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, the method1200 may be used to enable the system 100 to generate one or moremodifications for a user 101 using the nutrition data, exercise data,and/or biometric data of the user 101 and/or one or more other users101. One or more steps of the method 1200 may be performed by one ormore health applications 121, acquisition engines 122, and/or ananalytics engines 123 which may be executed by a computing deviceprocessor, such as a processor 151 (FIG. 6), processor 302 (FIG. 2),and/or a processor 402 (FIG. 3).

The method 1200 may start 1201 and baseline health information of one ormore users 101 may be received in step 1202. In some embodiments, thebaseline health information may be received from a user 101 via controlinput(s) 159 by a health application 121 of a device 140. In furtherembodiments, baseline health information may be received from a user 101via a health application 121 running on a client device 400 and/orserver 300. Generally, the baseline health information may describe thebaseline health information of the user 101, such as age, height,weight, glucose levels, blood pressure levels, and cholesterol levels.Preferably, baseline health information may be provided via one or morehealth monitoring devices 130.

In step 1203, user nutrition and exercise data of one or more users 101may be received from one or more health monitoring device(s) 130 and/orclient devices 400 via user 101 input provided to a health application121. In some embodiments, the nutrition and exercise data may describecalorie count data and nutritional data of foods eaten by the user 101over a period of time, such as a breakfast time period, lunch timeperiod, snack time period, dinner time period, and daily time period,which may be entered by the user 101 into a health application 121running on their client device 400 and/or server 300. In furtherembodiments, the nutrition and exercise data may comprise data recordedby the one or more health monitoring devices 130 utilized by the user101. In still further embodiments, the user data may comprise datadescribing exercise and physical activity of the user 101 over a periodof time.

In step 1204, biometric data of one or more users 101 may be received.In some embodiments, an acquisition engine 122 may receive userbiometric data from a health monitoring device 130, such as a patchdevice 130A, blood pressure cuff/machine device 130B, weight scaledevice 130C, and a standalone device 130D. The biometric data of theuser 101 may include a body weight measurement, a cholesterolmeasurement, a blood pressure measurement, a blood glucose measurement,body fat percentage measurement, or any other human body metric.

In step 1205, the effect of nutrition variables and exercise variableson biometric data of one or more users 101 may be determined by ananalytics engine 123. Generally, an analytics engine 123 may usestatistical analysis methods to correlate nutrition variables andexercise variables to recorded changes in user biometric data todetermine if the nutrition variables and exercise variables increase,decrease, or cause no change to the various user biometric data recordedby the system 100. For example, the analytics engine 123 may determineif an exercise variable of regular jogging causes an increase, decrease,or no change to the blood glucose levels of one or more users 101. Asanother example, the analytics engine 123 may determine if a nutritionvariable of eating 1 gram of fresh ground cinnamon a day, preferablydispensed via a dietary metering device 140, causes an increase,decrease, or no change to the serum cholesterol levels of one or moreusers 101.

In step 1206, one or more modifications that have an effect on biometricdata goals may be generated by an analytics engine 123. In preferredembodiments, one or more modifications provided to a user 101 may begenerated using the effect of one or more nutrition variables and/orexercise variables on a set of biometric data recorded from a pluralityof users 101. By determining the effect of nutrition variables andexercise variables on biometric data of one or more users 101 in step1205, the analytics engine 123 may then generate one or moremodifications that may have a desired effect on a biometric data goal ofa user 101. For example, if the analytics engine 123 determines that anexercise variable of regular jogging causes a decrease to the bloodglucose levels of one or more users 101 and a user 101 inputs abiometric data goal of reducing blood glucose levels to a desired numberor range, the analytics engine 123 may generate a modification having anexercise recommendation type of health recommendation comprising ajogging regimen to that user 101. As another example, if the analyticsengine 123 determines that a nutrition variable of eating 1 gram offresh ground cinnamon, preferably stored in and dispensed via a dietarymetering device 140, causes a decrease to the serum cholesterol levelsof one or more users 101 and a user 101 inputs a biometric data goal ofreducing serum cholesterol levels to a desired number or range, theanalytics engine 123 may generate a modification having a dietaryrecommendation type of health recommendation comprising dietary regimenof eating 1 gram of fresh ground cinnamon a day to that user 101.

After step 1206, the method 1200 may finish 1207.

It will be appreciated that some exemplary embodiments described hereinmay include one or more generic or specialized processors (or“processing devices”) such as microprocessors, digital signalprocessors, customized processors and field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs) and unique stored program instructions (including both softwareand firmware) that control the one or more processors to implement, inconjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some, most, or all ofthe functions of the methods and/or systems described herein.Alternatively, some or all functions may be implemented by a statemachine that has no stored program instructions, or in one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs), in which each functionor some combinations of certain of the functions are implemented ascustom logic. Of course, a combination of the two approaches may beused. Moreover, some exemplary embodiments may be implemented as acomputer-readable storage medium having computer readable code storedthereon for programming a computer, server, appliance, device, etc. eachof which may include a processor to perform methods as described andclaimed herein. Examples of such computer-readable storage mediumsinclude, but are not limited to, a hard disk, an optical storage device,a magnetic storage device, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM(Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ReadOnly Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read OnlyMemory), a Flash memory, and the like.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Embodiments ofthe subject matter described in this specification can be implemented asone or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules ofcomputer program instructions encoded on a tangible program carrier forexecution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.The tangible program carrier can be a propagated signal or a computerreadable medium. The propagated signal is an artificially generatedsignal, e.g., a machine generated electrical, optical, orelectromagnetic signal that is generated to encode information fortransmission to suitable receiver apparatus for execution by a computer.The computer readable medium can be a machine readable storage device, amachine readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition ofmatter effecting a machine readable propagated signal, or a combinationof one or more of them.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, application, script, or code) can be written in any form ofprogramming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, ordeclarative or procedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form,including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine,or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. Aprogram can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programsor data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup languagedocument), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or inmultiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules,sub programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployedto be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are locatedat one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by acommunication network.

Additionally, the logic flows and structure block diagrams described inthis patent document, which describe particular methods and/orcorresponding acts in support of steps and corresponding functions insupport of disclosed structural means, may also be utilized to implementcorresponding software structures and algorithms, and equivalentsthereof. The processes and logic flows described in this specificationcan be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one ormore computer programs to perform functions by operating on input dataand generating output.

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, solid state drives, or optical disks.However, a computer need not have such devices.

Computer readable media suitable for storing computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non volatile memory, mediaand memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memorydevices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks,e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; andCD ROM and DVD ROM disks. The processor and the memory can besupplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube), light emittingdiode (LED) display, or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device,e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provide input to thecomputer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interactionwith a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can beany form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback,or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in anyform, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back end component,e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g.,an application server, or that includes a front end component, e.g., aclient computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browserthrough which a user can interact with an implementation of the subjectmatter described is this specification, or any combination of one ormore such back end, middleware, or front end components. The componentsof the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digitaldata communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a widearea network (“WAN”), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network or the cloud. The relationship of clientand server arises by virtue of computer programs running on therespective computers and having a client server relationship to eachother.

Further, many embodiments are described in terms of sequences of actionsto be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It willbe recognized that various actions described herein can be performed byspecific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or moreprocessors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequence ofactions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirelywithin any form of computer readable storage medium having storedtherein a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon executionwould cause an associated processor to perform the functionalitydescribed herein. Thus, the various aspects of the invention may beembodied in a number of different forms, all of which have beencontemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Inaddition, for each of the embodiments described herein, thecorresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as,for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action.

The computer system may also include a main memory, such as a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device (e.g., dynamic RAM(DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), and synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)), coupled to thebus for storing information and instructions to be executed byprocessor. In addition, the main memory may be used for storingtemporary variables or other intermediate information during theexecution of instructions by the processor. The computer system mayfurther include a read only memory (ROM) or other static storage device(e.g., programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), and electricallyerasable PROM (EEPROM)) coupled to the bus for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processor.

The computer system may also include a disk controller coupled to thebus to control one or more storage devices for storing information andinstructions, such as a magnetic hard disk, and a removable media drive(e.g., floppy disk drive, read-only compact disc drive, read/writecompact disc drive, compact disc jukebox, tape drive, and removablemagneto-optical drive). The storage devices may be added to the computersystem using an appropriate device interface (e.g., small computersystem interface (SCSI), integrated device electronics (IDE),enhanced-IDE (E-IDE), direct memory access (DMA), or ultra-DMA).

The computer system may also include special purpose logic devices(e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) or configurablelogic devices (e.g., simple programmable logic devices (SPLDs), complexprogrammable logic devices (CPLDs), and field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs)).

The computer system may also include a display controller coupled to thebus to control a display, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquidcrystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED) display, or any othertype of display, for displaying information to a computer user. Thecomputer system may also include input devices, such as a keyboard and apointing device, for interacting with a computer user and providinginformation to the processor. Additionally, a touch screen could beemployed in conjunction with display. The pointing device, for example,may be a mouse, a trackball, or a pointing stick for communicatingdirection information and command selections to the processor and forcontrolling cursor movement on the display. In addition, a printer mayprovide printed listings of data stored and/or generated by the computersystem.

The computer system performs a portion or all of the processing steps ofthe invention in response to the processor executing one or moresequences of one or more instructions contained in a memory, such as themain memory. Such instructions may be read into the main memory fromanother computer readable medium, such as a hard disk or a removablemedia drive. One or more processors in a multi-processing arrangementmay also be employed to execute the sequences of instructions containedin main memory. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions. Thus,embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software.

As stated above, the computer system includes at least one computerreadable medium or memory for holding instructions programmed accordingto the teachings of the invention and for containing data structures,tables, records, or other data described herein. Examples of computerreadable media are compact discs, hard disks, floppy disks, tape,magneto-optical disks, PROMs (EPROM, EEPROM, flash EPROM), DRAM, SRAM,SDRAM, or any other magnetic medium, compact discs (e.g., CD-ROM), orany other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, or other physicalmedium with patterns of holes, a carrier wave (described below), or anyother medium from which a computer can read.

Stored on any one or on a combination of computer readable media, thepresent invention includes software for controlling the computer system,for driving a device or devices for implementing the invention, and forenabling the computer system to interact with a human user. Suchsoftware may include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operatingsystems, development tools, and applications software. Such computerreadable media further includes the computer program product of thepresent invention for performing all or a portion (if processing isdistributed) of the processing performed in implementing the invention.

The computer code or software code of the present invention may be anyinterpretable or executable code mechanism, including but not limited toscripts, interpretable programs, dynamic link libraries (DLLs), Javaclasses, and complete executable programs. Moreover, parts of theprocessing of the present invention may be distributed for betterperformance, reliability, and/or cost.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying outone or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions for implementing all or a portion of the present inventionremotely into a dynamic memory and send the instructions over the air(e.g. through a wireless cellular network or Wi-Fi network). A modemlocal to the computer system may receive the data over the air and usean infrared transmitter to convert the data to an infrared signal. Aninfrared detector coupled to the bus can receive the data carried in theinfrared signal and place the data on the bus. The bus carries the datato the main memory, from which the processor retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by the main memory mayoptionally be stored on storage device either before or after executionby processor.

The computer system also includes a communication interface coupled tothe bus. The communication interface provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link that is connected to, forexample, a local area network (LAN), or to another communicationsnetwork such as the Internet. For example, the communication interfacemay be a network interface card to attach to any packet switched LAN. Asanother example, the communication interface may be an asymmetricaldigital subscriber line (ADSL) card, an integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communicationconnection to a corresponding type of communications line. Wirelesslinks may also be implemented. In any such implementation, thecommunication interface sends and receives electrical, electromagneticor optical signals that carry digital data streams representing varioustypes of information.

The network link typically provides data communication to the cloudthrough one or more networks to other data devices. For example, thenetwork link may provide a connection to another computer or remotelylocated presentation device through a local network (e.g., a LAN) orthrough equipment operated by a service provider, which providescommunication services through a communications network. In preferredembodiments, the local network and the communications network preferablyuse electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carry digitaldata streams. The signals through the various networks and the signalson the network link and through the communication interface, which carrythe digital data to and from the computer system, are exemplary forms ofcarrier waves transporting the information. The computer system cantransmit and receive data, including program code, through thenetwork(s) and, the network link and the communication interface.Moreover, the network link may provide a connection through a LAN to aclient device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), laptopcomputer, or cellular telephone. The LAN communications network and theother communications networks such as cellular wireless and Wi-Finetworks may use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals thatcarry digital data streams. The processor system can transmitnotifications and receive data, including program code, through thenetwork(s), the network link and the communication interface.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described hereinwith reference to preferred embodiments and specific examples thereof,it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art thatother embodiments and examples may perform similar functions and/orachieve like results. All such equivalent embodiments and examples arewithin the spirit and scope of the present invention, are contemplatedthereby, and are intended to be covered by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method for providingdietary and health information, the method comprising the steps of:receiving input from a user through a client device, wherein the inputcomprises a biometric data goal; receiving baseline health informationof the user via a health monitoring device, the baseline healthinformation comprising a first biometric data, the first biometric datacommunicated from the health monitoring device to the client device;receiving user nutrition and exercise data via the client device; andproviding a first modification to the user via the client device,wherein the first modification comprises a health recommendation toachieve the biometric data goal of the user.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the health recommendation comprises an exercise recommendation.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the health recommendation comprises adietary recommendation.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the dietaryrecommendation comprises an amount of an edible nutritional item that isdispensed from a dietary metering device.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein the biometric data goal of the user describes a desired changein the weight of the user, and wherein the dietary recommendationdescribes a daily number of calories that the user should consume toenable the user to achieve the desired change in the weight of the user.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the health monitoring device comprisesan electronic device selected from the group consisting of a patchdevice, a blood pressure cuff/machine device, a standalone device, and aweight scale device.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising thestep of recording a second biometric data, the second biometric datataken after a period of time after the first biometric data is received,and further comprising the step of providing a second modification tothe user via the client device, the second modification provided afterthe step of recording the second biometric data.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the first modification provided to the user is generatedusing the effect of a variable on a set of biometric data recorded froma plurality of users, the variable selected from the group consisting ofa nutrition variable and an exercise variable.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising the step of providing the health progress of the uservia the client device.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstbiometric data of the user comprises one of a body weight measurement, acholesterol measurement, a blood pressure measurement, and a bloodglucose measurement.
 11. A computer implemented system for providingdietary and health information, the system comprising: a client devicehaving a display screen and an input interface for receiving input froma user; and a computing platform having a processor, a memory incommunication with the processor, and communication logic stored in thememory, executable by the processor and configured to receive input fromthe user, wherein the input comprises a biometric data goal, and toreceive baseline health information of the user via a health monitoringdevice, the baseline health information comprising a first biometricdata, the first biometric data communicated from the health monitoringdevice to the client device, acquisition logic stored in the memory,executable by the processor and configured to receive user nutrition andexercise data via the client device, and analytics logic stored in thememory, executable by the processor and configured to generate a firstmodification, wherein the first modification comprises a healthrecommendation to achieve the biometric data goal of the user, andwherein the first modification is provided to the user via thecommunication logic.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the healthrecommendation comprises an exercise recommendation.
 13. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the health recommendation comprises a dietaryrecommendation.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the dietaryrecommendation comprises an amount of an edible nutritional item that isdispensed from a dietary metering device.
 15. The system of claim 13,wherein the biometric data goal of the user describes a desired changein the weight of the user, and wherein the dietary recommendationdescribes a daily number of calories that the user should consume toenable the user to achieve the desired change in the weight of the user.16. The system of claim 11, wherein the health monitoring devicecomprises an electronic device selected from the group consisting of apatch device, a blood pressure cuff/machine device, a standalone device,and a weight scale device.
 17. The system of claim 11, furthercomprising the step of recording a second biometric data, the secondbiometric data taken after a period of time after the first biometricdata is received, and further comprising the step of providing a secondmodification to the user via the client device, the second modificationprovided after the step of recording the second biometric data.
 18. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the first modification provided to the useris generated using the effect of a variable on a set of biometric datarecorded from a plurality of users, the variable selected from the groupconsisting of a nutrition variable and an exercise variable.
 19. Thesystem of claim 11, further comprising the step of providing the healthprogress of the user via the client device.
 20. The system of claim 11,wherein the first biometric data of the user comprises one of a bodyweight measurement, a cholesterol measurement, a blood pressuremeasurement, and a blood glucose measurement.